No more govt housing

THE EDITOR: The Greenvale flood has demonstrated that Government should not be in the business of providing housing to citizens.

Politicians, after all, have to get votes in order to keep their jobs. They do so by giving voters what they want. One thing voters want is houses at below the market price. There is not one resident of Greenvale who did not get housing at a cost less than what private homeowners have to pay for an equivalent lot and building.

Government provision of housing only crowds out private builders who would do a better job in supplying low-cost housing at market rates. So let us stop the pretence that the Government is involved in housing schemes out of altruism. The real purpose is to win votes and, since that is so, corruption and inefficiency will always be part of that process.